Book Lovers’ Week!

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I realized that I had somehow missed that August 9 was the day of the unofficial Book Lovers’ Day. So, I have decided, without any authority, of course, that I am declaring the entire week of 8/9/17-8/15/17 to  be the unofficial holiday of Book Lovers’ Week!

Why should we celebrate only one day?  Let us embrace the week as a period of declaring to the world that we love books!

If you are with me on this idea, please spread the word!

I love books!

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Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book I by Charles F. French is available for purchase on Amazon either as an ebook or a print book!

Please follow the following links to find my novel:

ebook

Print book

Thank you!

The book trailer:

Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

My radio interview:

interview

Thank You to all Writers and Readers

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The relationship of writers and readers is symbiotic and wonderful. Without one, the other does not exist. Imagination and interpretation coexist to create the wonder of the experience of books.

I want to extend my thanks to all writers and readers!

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What are you reading?

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Occasionally, I write a post in which I ask this question, and it has been some time, so I wanted to ask all of you again: what are you currently reading?

I am reading Aggravated Momentum by Didi Oviatt;

In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson;

Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr;

and rereading for classes that I teach at the Wescoe School of Muhlenberg College:

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

and Dracula by Bram Stoker.

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I wish Happy Reading to all!

Quotations on Thinking (Revisited)

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“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

                                                                             Socrates

 

 

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“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

                                                                              Albert Einstein

 

 

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“Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man”

                           (Russell, Bertrand. Why Men Fight 178-9).

 

 

“All good writing is inherently subversive.”

                                                                          Charles F. French

The Unique Blogger Award

Earlier this month, the wonderful artist and blogger, Miss Gentileschi https://secretartexpedition.wordpress.com nominated me for The Unique Blogger Award.  I admit that I sometimes take longer than I should in replying to such honors. For the delay, I apologize. For the honor, I thank Miss Gentileschi, and I recommend you visit her wonderful site.

THE RULES:

• Share the link to the blogger who has shown love to you by nominating you.
• Answer the questions.
• In the spirit of sharing love and solidarity with our blogging family, nominate 15 people and notify them.
• Ask them three questions.

 

THE QUESTIONS:

1.) What (or who) inspired you to get into blogging?

I have attended several writing conferences, and an emphasis was placed on having a web presence, so after investigations of possibilities, blogging was suggested as the best way to begin, and I agree. I have enjoyed both producing the blog and learning in the process.

2.) Describe your ideal three-course meal? 

This is a little difficult, because I love so many kinds of foods.  Here is one possibility:

A cheddar-beer soup, followed by a hearty beef stew, and finished with bread pudding. This is not the healthiest of meals, but it would be delicious.

3.)  Would you consider naming any future children after fictional characters, if so which characters? (Or if you already have children, did you gave them names after fictional characters?)

While I have never named any children after fictional characters, I have named several pets–cats–from characters in Shakespeare: Ariel and Miranda.

MY NOMINEES:

Karina Pinella Karina Pinella Writing the Wrong, Right, and Rediculous

Amanda Amanda Writes

Storyteller Stories A Part Of Life

Chape Chape blog

KD Dowdall K.D. Dowdall Of Pen and Paper

James J. Cudney IV This Is My Truth

Artimas Delmar Palabras Delmar

Jennie A Teacher’s Reflections

KC Redding-Gonzalez Zombie Salmon (the Horror Continues)

Kim Peace, Love, and Patchouli

Linda Linda’s Book Obsession

Goldenbrodie heartclosetblog

Khaya Ronkainen Khaya Ronkainen Writer

Didi Oviatt Didi Oviatt

Andrew Reynolds Andrew’s View of the Week

 

MY QUESTIONS:

1.) What is one goal you hope to achieve with your blog?

2.) If you could travel anywhere, with money as no issue, where would you go?

3.) If you could have a conversation with a character from a work of fiction, who would it be?  What would you like to talk about?

 

Once again, thank you very much to Miss Gentileschi https://secretartexpedition.wordpress.com/eine-seite/

 

 

 

Quotations on Reading

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“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

                                                                           Ray Bradbury

 

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“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”

                                                                          Joyce Carol Oates

 

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“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.”

                                                                          Carl Sagan

No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts: A Review

This spring I had the great pleasure of attending a reading and book signing by Stephanie Powell Watts for her newly release novel No One Is Coming to Save Us. I have been remiss in putting this review up, so I will remedy that situation now.

First I want to say that this book is one of the most important American novels of the last 200 years. As a professor of English Literature, I do not say that lightly. This is a book that will, I hope, be read and reread and taught in college classes for many years to come.

It would be easy to say that her novel is a treatment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, but it is not. Watts treats similar themes as Fitzgerald does, but she focuses not on the lives of the idle wealthy but on those of poor and working class African-Americans. These are ideas that inform most of humanity, and Watts is brilliant in her take on them. Her writing is lyrical, witty, compelling, and deeply moving.

Watts shows people who want a home and have hopes of family and relationships. She shows the depths of human desires and feelings. This book belongs on the syllabus of those teaching American literature, and it should be read by anyone interested in a deep and moving examination of the souls of human beings.

If we are looking at books in a five star system, then I give this not just five stars but five shining stars.

Please read this novel!